Company History

The First 50 Years

This story starts back in 1913.

On Friday evening 21 February 1913, a group of local residents and property owners of Centre Square, Blue Bell, Belfry and nearby points in Whitpain and adjoining areas met in the large banquet hall of the Centre Square Hotel owned by Mr. Charles H. Spaeth to discuss and explore the possibilities of the establishment of a fire company. The subject received favorable consideration, a resolution was offered by Mr. C. Harry Danenhower calling for a town meeting in the Odd Fellow’s Hall on Thursday evening 27 February 1913 to organize a fire company. The resolution was adopted and posters ordered printed announcing the meeting. These posters were probably printed by the Ambler Gazette which did the early printing for the company since the minutes frequently directed an order be drawn in payment to the Editor of the Gazette. It was also learned at the meeting that two of the property owners had kindly consented to dam up the water on their properties so that they may be used in case of fire. It is believed most of the houses in the vicinity could be reached from either of these lakes by the use of 1500 or 1600 feet of hose.

On the 27 of February 1913 a group of citizens met in the second floor hall of the Odd Fellows to further consider the foundation of a fire company. Before the meeting ended, the Centre Square Fire Company of Whitpain Township came into existence with 35 of the group joining as members. As set forth in the Charter, "The said Company is formed for the purpose of the support of fire engine, hook and ladder, hose company, for the purpose of protecting life and property, in case of fire. The said Corporation is to exist perpetually."

The 35 members who joined 27 February 1913:

Ellwood J. Allen	Sylvester B. Drake	Edmund C. Rezer
Howard L. Baker	James J. Fry	Charles P. Roynan
Harry D. Beatty	Edward Guertler	Richard Roynan
John Berkheimer, Sr.	Charles P. Halberstadt	Maurice Roynan
F. Clifford Bernhard	Lewis S. Hall	Charles H. Spaeth
Alexander D. Blackburn	Frederick Hangstorfer	Dr. Samuel C. Seiple
Charles C. Blattner	Carl Elaf Klein	George H. Swartz
Alexander Breckenridge	Samuel Krider	David J. Schwenk
Roderick D. Cumming	William McCann	Maximillian Trinkle
C. Harry Danenhower	Harry Mumbower	Walter Unruh
Irvin H. Detwiler	Courtlandt S. Morris	Willard Unruh
Irvin Dewees		J. Irvin Yost

The following members were elected as the first officers of the Centre Square Fire Company:

Fire Chief: Alexander D. Blackburn

President: Richard Roynan

Vice President: Howard L. Baker

Secretary: Irvin H. Detwiler

Treasurer: David J. Schwenk

Trustees:

C. Harry Danenehower
Sylvester B. Drake
Dr. Samual C. Seiple
Charles H. Spaeth
George H. Swartz

(The office of Chief Engineer was not estalished until 2 October 1913. J. Irvin Yost was elected at that time.)

Although there were 35 members present at the first meeting, there were actually 73 charter members. This is because the following additional members were admitted at the meetings of 20 March 1913, 3 April 1913 and 1 May 1913, after which the Charter was officially closed:

20 March 1913

J. Howard Breed	Harry E. Fisher	Howard L. Robeson
Harry Conard	Cecil F. Hammond	J. Irvin Seipt
John Edwards	William H. Hartzell	Joseph Skiro
Frank A. Exley	Julius J. Loucheim	Fred Slingluff
John S. Fertsch	Charles E. Morris
George W. Fertsch	Enos Roberts, Jr.

3 April 1913

Jacob W. Brunner	John McCandless	Abram Unruh
Richard L. Hynes	Isaac H. McCandless

1 May 1913

Henry J. Annear	John Kennedy	George W. Porter
George K. Brecht	George B. Kibblehouse, Sr.	Horace Rezer
John Cole, Jr.	J. Earnest Michael	Dr. Edward A. Rile
Wayne E. Cressman	L. Eugene Miller	Reuben M. Rodebaugh
A. Lincoln Frame	Fred Momme	Frank Zimmerman
Jesse M. Jones	George L. Oddy

The Constitution and the By-Laws were duly approved and adopted on 20 March 1913, and the Odd Fellows' Hall in Centre Square was selected as a meeting place.

Company meetings from 20 March 1913 to 5 February 1914 were held in the second floor hall of the building of Centre Square Lodge #204, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, an old stone landmark which formerly stood on Skippack Pike just north of DeKalb Pike.

At the 14 September 1913 meeting the outside shed in the rear of the garage of the Centre Square Hotel was ordered rented and converted into a proper building for housing of the fire apparatus. This building was also to be used as a meeting place. A uniform was adopted to consist of a cap, blouse and necktie and was to be paid for by the individual members.

Chief Engineer J. Irvin Yost reported at the 8 January 1914 meeting that the apparatus had been housed in the new quarters, and the machine was in good condition. Fire alarm signals were recommended adopted as follows:

Two strokes..................in the direction of Blue Bell (East)
Three strokes...............in the direction of Washington Square (South)
Four strokes.................in the direction of Belfry (West)
Five strokes..................in the direction of Franklinville (North)

(For an early map of the township, click here.)

On Thursday 5 March 1914, the organization met for the first time in its own rented fire headquarters, a former livery stable of the Centre Square Hotel across the State Road (DeKalb Pike) from the hotel. In the early days the hotels on Skippack Pike required extensive stabling to care for the farmers’ horses while they stopped overnight on their way to and from Philadelphia.

When the company was organized in 1913 the hotel, stables and adjoining houses were owned by Charles H. Spaeth, a charter member. Later they were sold to Tilghman D. Schantz, also a member, and then to L.C. Boettner. In 1917 Mr. Boettner’s properties were sold at Sheriff’s sale.

At the fire company meeting of 7 June 1917, David J. Schwenk was authorized to purchase the part of the hotel property on the southwest corner of Skippack Pike and DeKalb Pike – the part already occupied by the fire company. At the time it was held by the Norristown Trust Company as the result of the Sheriff’s sale. At the same meeting, David J. Schwenk, Jacob W. Brunner, Andrew B. Robinson and F. Clifford Bernhard agreed to be responsible for the purchase should the fire company Trustees for any reason refuse to accept the property, since the necessity for quick action in the matter did not give the members the time to take up the matter with the Trustees.

A week later, on 14 June 1917 a special meeting was held and David J. Schwenk reported that for the Fire Company he had purchased “all that portion of ground situated at the S.W. corner of Skippack Pike and State Road, with improvements, consisting of a stone building and adjoining frame dwelling for the sum of $2500, size of lot 90 x 128 feet, and that Joseph Zornek had agreed to purchase that part of the ground on which the frame dwelling was erected, and surrounding ground to within three feet of the west wall of the garage building, for the price of $1300.” This report was accepted, and the transaction was closed with Mr. Zornek, who operated a barbershop on the frame building.

The Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Centre Square Fire Company contributed $300 to help the firemen make the down payment of the property and they were now thoroughly ensconced for the first time in their own home.

On Thursday 15 September 1921 at a combined meeting of the firemen and the Ladies’ Auxiliary at a carnival fund-raising event the $1000 mortgage on the property was publicly burned by fire company President Howard L. Baker. A photograph of the occasion shows the crowds of local citizens standing in the middle of Skippack Pike witnessing the event. The dress modes of 1921 are most interesting.

The first piece of equipment was a single horse wagon with enclosed sides and a top, purchased for $10 from George B. Kibblehouse Sr., a member who was a tinsmith and a dealer in stoves. Since many of the early members were farmers, and farmers were practical men, no horse was purchased with the wagon. The firemen took the place of a horse, grasping the pair of shafts and taking off on a run to the fire. A horse was used only for out of town fires. In those cases a horse owned by the Roynan family or the horse of any member who arrived first at the station by horsepower was used. Arriving at the fire the firemen and nearby neighbors would form a bucket brigade to the nearest water supply – a well, pump, pond or stream.

It was an appropriate coincidence that the firemen should select a wagon for the original temporary equipment, since most of the early American volunteer fire companies began with hand drawn apparatus, and more significantly “The Waggon” was the former name of Centre Square, which derived its name from the famous hotel and inn, “The Waggon”, a prominent landmark in the area prior to 1759.

Firefighting equipment contained on the wagon included two dozen galvanized buckets also purchased from Mr. Kibblehouse for $4 (about 16.67 cents per bucket!). In the minutes of the 5 June 1913 meeting, an order directed to be drawn to Mr. Kibblehouse for $14 for both items. One month earlier, on 22 May 1913, a Kanawha Air Pressure Chemical System apparatus was ordered, for a price not to exceed $400.

The second piece of equipment, which was also the first motorized vehicle owned by the company, was a six cylinder 60 horsepower Winton seven passenger open automobile with a one-man fold back top. It was reported purchased 7 August 1913 from LeRoy Templeton, a machinist from Norristown, Pa. The Winton was one of the early automobile sales of Mr. Templeton, founder of the Lee Templeton Motor Company of Norristown. The purchase price of the Winton was $300, or about 12% of its original price of $2500. Although the model year of the Winton is unknown, it must have been about five years old at the time, since Alexander Winton introduced the first American six cylinder Winton automobile in 1908, when 350 of these luxury automobiles were built. It must have had plenty of mileage on it in 1913 when the fire company purchased it, in view of the fact that it was formerly used as a sight-seeing passenger car between Norristown and Valley Forge.

The Winton has a compressed air starter, which sometimes did not work, especially at inappropriate moments. A curious feature was a standard equipment 4 cylinder air compressor attached to the side of the engine and used to compress air for the starter. In addition, when the engine was running this could be used to inflate the tires, and this sometimes gave early motorists considerable trouble. Firemen arriving first on scene at headquarters unfamiliar with its operation would sometimes flood the carburetor or exhaust the air cylinder used to activate the compressed air starter, and the result was that it was necessary to hand crank or push the Winton in an attempt to start it. The Winton seems to have operated more efficiently after the starter was rebuilt and the firemen became more familiar with it.

From 1913 until 1919, the Winton remained the fire company’s only motorized apparatus. It was equipped with gas headlamps, and lighting these acetylene headlamps was a two-man chore (like the advertised one-man top). One man was required to turn on the gas valve at the tank and one to ignite the burners before the gas sprayed the inside of the headlights.

The rear section of the automobile behind the driver’s seat was removed and a truck type body was built to carry chemical apparatus and other equipment. The minutes of the 4 December 1913 meeting direct an order to be made to George W. Lenhart for a $90 payment in full of a body made for the apparatus and Charles Bauer $49.20 in full for repairing the machine. Mr. Bauer offered as a donation the Prestolite tank on the machine which, like all contributions, was gratefully accepted.

Actions often speak louder than words, and such was the case in December 1913 when the company had only $4.10 in its treasury, after purchasing the Winton, and bills due and payable totaled $163.72. Sylvester B. Drake, one of the charter members and a trustee, came forward and loaned the organization $200 to keep it solvent.

Prior to the erection of the present station 33A in 1954, the home of the Centre Square Fire Company was probably the only fire house headquarters in America that could have boasted “George Washington’s officers’ horses slept here”. The horses were quartered in the original building while their owners were patronizing “The Waggon” across the road. George Washington’s Continental Army passed by the present and original sites of the CSFC on their way to and from the Battle of Germantown in October-November 1777, and also on the advance towards the Whitemarsh encampment.

The first known contributions to the CSFC were given by Sylvester B. Drake ($25), Edward Bromley, a Philadelphia textile manufacturer ($25), and “From a Friend” (unknown) ($1). A total of $77 in donations and dues were turned over to the treasurer at the first meeting on 27 February 1913.

Embarrassing incidents happen to organizations as well as to individuals, and the CSFC was no exception. Fire is no respecter of persons, including firemen, as early members discovered.

On one occasion, while responding to an alarm at Blue Bell in their only motorized piece of equipment, the Winton automobile threw a clincher tire on Skippack Pike near Cathcart Road, but with aplomb worthy of veteran firemen with years of experience, they continued on their way not batting an eye, while the steel tire rim reverberated along the highway. “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor lack of a tire, stays these firemen from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” This could have been the reason for the notation in the minutes of 6 November 1913: “Tire purchased for apparatus for $30 from L.S. Hall Rubber Co.”.

On responding to their first recorded fire in the minutes of 6 November 1913, the day of the meeting, at the barn fire of Walter Shaeff Sr., a carpenter and undertaker on Stenton Avenue, the Winton automobile was found to be out of order, necessitating the use of the wagon with its water buckets and chemical equipment.

The second recorded fire reported that evening was at the home of John R. Morris, a butcher. Mr. Morris’ smokehouse was on fire but it was quickly extinguished. Here also the wagon was drawn to the scene of the fire.

At the company meeting on 4 February 1914 Chief Engineer Yost reported on responding to a fire at the home of CSFC’s first president, Richard Roynan. The motor of the Winton was out of order, and again the firemen made use of the wagon, pulling it to the fire. The members, with Richard Roynan and his three sons and his neighbors probably formed a bucket brigade to the nearby springhouse and stream, supplementing the use of chemical equipment.

These events early on impressed the firemen of the necessity of owning more than one piece of dependable fire apparatus.

On another occasion a fire occurred in the home of the CSFC’s fire chief, John Berkheimer Sr. while he was shoeing a horse for Dr. Edward A. Rile, a veterinarian. Dr. Rile drove Chief Berkheimer home and they Mrs. Berkheimer outside looking for her husband to inform him there was a smoldering fire in their house. Chief Berkheimer ran to the firehouse nearby to obtain a company fire extinguisher to put out the fire, and in the excitement someone rang the fire alarm, but the fire had been extinguished before the arrival of the firemen.

Early in 1953 another fire occurred in the Berkheimer home while they were in Norristown, but thanks to the promptness and efficiency of the firemen the fire was quickly extinguished with no damage. Mr. Berkheimer, upon hearing the fire siren, drove quickly down DeKalb Pike to the fire company headquarters, found the place deserted, the apparatus gone and the doors wide open with the siren wailing away. The firemen, in their rush to the fire at his house had neglected to turn the siren off.

In December 1919, twelve ‘good and true firemen’ loaned the fire company $1200 from their personal funds so that the CSFC could buy its first piece of new equipment designed especially for firefighting purposes. The reliable REO Speed-Wagon chassis was purchased for $1405. The twelve men members who had the confidence in the future of the organization and loaned the money were:

F. Clifford Bernhard	Benjamin F. Famous, Jr.	Andrew B. Robinson
Oliver A. Brown	Fred Momme	Reuben M. Rodebaugh
Jacob W. Brunner	Courtlandt S. Morris	David B. Schwenk
Benjamin F. Famous, Sr.	Ross G. Rile	Dr. Samuel C. Seiple

The Ladies’ Auxiliary, always ready to give the firemen a helping hand, contributed $200 from their funds on 1 January 1920 to help pay for the REO. It was a very proud day for the organization when the ¾ ton REO chassis purchased at the 6 November meeting arrived on 9 November 1919.

At a special meeting in June 1923, a new Hale pump and equipment was ordered installed on the REO chassis, at a cost of $1634. This was paid to Hale Pump Company on 6 September 1923. The new pump, which is still on the apparatus today, added to the efficiency of the company since it was then able to pump directly from a stream or a body of water, or a fire hydrant if available.

The Hale-REO Combination Pump Chemical and Hose Car built on the standard ¾ ton REO Speed Wagon with a Hale pump could pump 300 gallons of water per minute. The booster chemical tank directly behind the driver’s seat held the then enormous capacity of 30 gallons. It had a removable cap in the top, recessed in a funnel like a collar, which could be removed to pour buckets of water into the tank to feed the ¾” rubber hose wound on the hose reel with the nozzle attached, ready for action. It had a four cylinder engine and was capable of a top speed of 20-25 mph, riding on wooden wheels and 34 x 4 ½” pneumatic tires.

The red Hale-REO pumper is still in existence today with the No. 1 and the Company’s name painted on the truck. It is once again owned by the CSFC, although for a period of time it was owned by Ralph Strassburger, and later his widow. Mr. Strassburger was admitted to membership in the company on 6 May 1915, and was a friend until his passing in 1959. In the meeting minutes of 5 March 1959 a page was set aside in his memory, as is the customary practice for honoring deceased members of the organization. During the CSFC 50th anniversary celebration in 1963, Mrs. Strassburger graciously allowed the REO to be returned home on a loan exhibit.

While being preserved for posterity on the “Normandy Farm” it was under the watchful eye of John Berkheimer Sr., the first official driver of company equipment, a fireman for fifty years, and at that the only active charter member of the organization.

Those who believe that lightning never strikes twice in the same place never met Howard Baker, the first vice president and the second president of the CSFC. Lightning struck his barn in 1934 and it burned. He built another barn on the same site and in 1940 it too was struck by lightning and burned. Undaunted, he rebuilt once again, later selling the property to Meehan’s Nursery and moved across Skippack Pike. This barn also burned, although this time it was due to children playing with Christmas candles. This one was not rebuilt.

Barn fires have always been a worry for rural communities, and whether caused by lightning or children playing with inflammable objects are extremely difficult to control due to their combustible contents. This was particularly true of fires not adjacent to water mains since by the time the local fire company arrived and laid a long line of hose to a pond or creek the barn was destroyed.

Until the large-scale installation and extension of water mains (probably in the 1950s and 1960s), many owners and others cooperated with firemen in building or maintaining ponds, lakes or dams on their properties for firefighting purposes. Some of these may still be in existence today. Members of the company in charge of the dam building projects were referred to as “The Dam Committee”.

As a volunteer firefighting company it was necessary to use any honest means to secure funds to maintain and operate the equipment. Like many volunteer fire companies, the CSFC not only had to fight fires but frequently had a tough time obtaining funds to fight them.

The annual suppers, which turned out local residents by the wagon and buggy-loads, were very successful in every way. They brought persons of every walk of life together, which was good not only for the tranquilizing hominess effect good for the communities at large, for here they could meet their friends and relatives and also those who moved away but returned home for the occasion

After their first supper, held for the benefit of the company on Saturday evening 3 May 1913, the tired firemen and the Ladies’ Auxiliary found that they had realized a profit of $315.61. Supper tickets were sold for $0.25 for adults and $0.15 for children under 8 years of age. The dishes and the silverware for the dinner were loaned by the Luther League of St. john;s Lutheran Church..

To really appreciate the amount of work involved, in the early days all the water – heated or unheated – used in their cooking had to be carried in wash boilers and buckets across the highways from nearby homes and buildings. All of this was done for the goal of a community fire house. In the heyday of the country suppers 836 persons were served at one affair in the old fire hall. At the annual firemen’s supper on 19 May 1917, 391 persons were served and a profit of $204.78 was realized.

Today, instead of suppers, the CSFC periodically holds comedy nights. But the fire station still serves as the gathering place for community members in support of their fire department.

In the early years of the organization the original building had a dirt floor, remaining this way until its purchase in 1917, when a wooden floor was installed. Sawdust or wood shavings, with their pleasant woody odor, donated by local lumberyards, were used to cover the earthen floor at suppers and other affairs. This ensured safer footing, prevented dampness and eliminated aromas reminiscent of its former use as a stable or livestock auction.

It was never necessary for the firemen to maintain their own piggery or purchase their pork in the early years since local residents and farmers usually contributed generously of their farm products. One former resident, Fred Abernathy, was always willing to furnish several pigs to the firemen for their suppers without charge. On one occasion the firemen butchered and processed five pigs and later on served the same pork at a company supper.

A charter member who was a farmer, Frank Exley, brought a pig in a crate to the annual fund-raising affair in May 1929 and was so elated at his success in barking chances (realizing $63.55) he gave the pig to the company to award as a prize.

Volunteer fire companies, individuals and various organizations should take a leaf from the experience of the Centre Square Fire Company before formulating plans for an important project and plan for future expansion whenever funds and circumstances permit.

Due to cramped conditions beyond their control, headquarters could originally house only one apparatus. Eventually, with Herculean efforts and considerable outlay of precious funds on an ancient building, they were able to accommodate two trucks.

It was often more difficult to house the equipment upon returning from alarms, without the use of a shoe horn or knocking holes through the inside walls, than it was fighting fires. It was not an aid to efficiency and it was not conducive to retaining some of the company’s early relics.

The situation hampered the growth and the organization’s activities, and this was a deciding factor in the planning and development of the upgraded headquarters completed in 1954. The fire company moved from the corner of DeKalb Pike and Skippack Pike to its present location at 1298 Skippack Pike, a few hundred yards east of the original fire headquarters. When first completed in 1954, it contained room for four pieces of equipment with room for expansion.

Almost anything of any consequence in the community once hinged or centered on the fire hall, the fire company, or its members. Hardly an organization in this area has not at some time made use of the facilities of the Centre Square Fire Company. Among the innumerable users of the hall through the years, in addition to the firemen and the Ladies’ Auxiliary, have been the local churches, their groups and societies, fraternal organizations, private organizations and individuals, the local Societies for the Apprehension of Horse Thieves and many others. Chairs, tables and kitchen utensils were often rented to a responsible person at a fixed nominal sum to organizations and individuals.

Weekly dances and square dances were among the many projects undertaken by the company or its members to raise funds to carry on their activities. One of the regular annual events was a show with Charles Murphy and other firemen doing their strut as the “Sunshine Minstrels”. Later on the annual “Dixieland Revue” was a regular fund-raising affair of the firemen and the auxiliary.

In the early years of the company and up until recent years funds were raised by the firemen for the most part, with suppers, plays, the use of coin cards, donations and membership and fund drives to provide a cash reserve to keep them in business.

Originally, the area was mostly a rural farming community, until gradually with the migration of city residents to the area and the population growth, it became necessary for the fire company to seek other sources of funds necessary to keep their facilities abreast with changing times. Reluctantly, in 1958 the firemen requested that the Whitpain Township supervisors place a ‘fire tax’ before the township voters for their approval. Today, the operating funds received from the township are derived from the tax fund.

At one point, around the time of the 50th anniversary, it was estimated that the CSFC members had worked over 16,000 man-hours each year.

Good fortune has smiled upon the Centre Square Fire Company in the selection of its leaders throughout the first 50 years of its existence. Any history of the company would be incomplete without mention of the sixth president, Edmund Rezer, who was president from 1928 to 1942. His term was marked by strides of progress in securing and maintaining equipment and in housing improvements. A special place in the memory of the firemen has been reserved for Maxwell Carpenter, whose interest and activities on behalf of the company led them to work toward building a new fire station.

Increased traffic at the Centre Square intersection of DeKalb Pike and Skippack Pike consistently created a hazard when the fire trucks departed headquarters on their way to a fire. First consideration was given to changing the entrance from DeKalb Pike to Skippack Pike, but after years of discussion and plans, the members decided to move. They sold the corner site for $20,000 and began work on the new headquarters ¼ mile east of the old site.

to be continued…this narrative is still under construction...